


Chamisa Blossoms

by elliebird



Series: Previously Posted Roswell, New Mexico Fic (2019) [12]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:16:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23023093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elliebird/pseuds/elliebird
Summary: Alex and Michael have dinner with the Brackens.Written for a Tumblr prompt: "I'd really love a fluffy Malex/Nobel double date fic, if you please."
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes, Noah Bracken/Isabel Evans
Series: Previously Posted Roswell, New Mexico Fic (2019) [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1636822
Comments: 9
Kudos: 61





	Chamisa Blossoms

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on 03.09.19

The Valenti cabin, now officially Alex’s place, is too small for hosting dinners or having friends over. It suits Alex just fine. But on the last Sunday in August, he invites Isobel and Noah Bracken out for an end of summer meal, away from town and all of its prying eyes and wagging tongues. 

Beyond his closest high school friends and Michael, Alex hasn’t socialized much since coming home to Roswell. Living through multiple wars and returning home to find not much had changed was isolating in the beginning. These days the life he’s created fits him comfortably. 

“This is a good look for you,” Michael says. He’s being as helpful as Alex expected, leaning against the counter in jeans that sit distractingly low on his hips, drinking a beer and watching Alex chop vegetables with a terribly fond smile he tries to hide with sarcasm. 

“This was your idea,” Alex accuses. His eyes are watering from the onion, he has a cut on his palm and he reeks of lemon juice and garlic. 

“Hey, I just suggested we have dinner with Iz and Noah,” Michael says. “You’re the one who decided to go full on Martha Stewart here.” 

Alex ignores him. He hardly thinks grilled steaks and fish and beers in a cooler count as anything over the top. He just hadn’t planned on being nervous. 

“Isobel’s important to you,” Alex says, keeping his eyes down. “So this is important.” 

Michael is quiet. There’s music playing faintly from the living room and a breeze blowing in through the open kitchen windows. In the last few months, Alex and Michael have opened their places to one another. Alex still finds the cabin cloying with all the old memories that lurk in the shadows, but these moments with Michael here in his bare feet, gently teasing, make it worth it. 

Michael’s made it clear that he’s tired of keeping secrets. While Alex isn’t ready to walk into the Crashdown holding Michael’s hand, he is willing to tiptoe outside his circle of comfort if it means making Michael’s eyes go all soft and fond. 

Alex left a lot of his old self in the desert. Things that used to stress him no longer make a blip on his radar. But the idea of the town’s golden couple coming to his place for their first attempt at a family dinner that includes him is unsettling. 

Alex starts as Michael steps up behind him, warm from falling asleep outside in the hammock he strung up when it was clear he was going to be hanging around for a while. He kisses Alex on the back of his neck, the sensitive spot beneath his ear, the swell of his cheek. “Thank you,” he whispers. 

They’re working hard to make this work, but neither of them are any good at this part. “Yeah,” Alex says, throat tight. 

Michael buries his face in Alex’s shoulder for a second, breathing him in. When he steps back, reaching for his beer, Alex says, “I’m going to change,” and disappears into the bedroom. 

He changes into clean jeans and his favorite green-button down. When he comes back into the kitchen, Michael catches him by surprise and backs him into the fridge. 

“Michael,” Alex breathes, hands coming up to grip him by the arms. 

“Relax,” Michael says, ducking his head to kiss Alex with an open mouth. His lips are cool and insistent. He lifts his head and he’s grinning. “It’s just just Iz and Noah.” 

Alex huffs in surprise as Michael’s hands slip underneath his shirt. “It’s not “just” Iz and Noah, Guerin. It’s your family.” 

Michael drags his fingertips over Alex’s skin, up his belly to press his palm to Alex’s chest. His voice dips low. “You’re sexy when you get sentimental.” 

He kisses Alex with the attention and focus that have made Alex weak-kneed and dizzy since the very beginning. 

“Guerin,” Alex mumbles. He clutches at Michael. “Don’t start something we won’t have time to finish.” Alex tries for convincing but Michael’s gotten the button on his jeans open and he sounds breathless and easy for Michael. 

Alex pulls back at the unmistakable sound of a car pulling into the gravel driveway, his head hitting the refrigerator dully. 

Michael huffs in frustration against Alex’s lips. “Damn Isobel for always being early.” 

Alex pushes at Michael. He’s flushed and flustered, tugging his shirt back into place. He slips out from under Michael’s arm. “Behave,” he hisses and immediately ruins it by grinning. 

He steps out onto the porch in time to see Isobel climb out of the SUV. She’s wearing a gauzy sundress and carrying a mason jar of wildflowers. 

He greets her at the bottom of the steps. “These are beautiful, thank you,” Alex says, taking the flowers from her. She gives him a one-armed hug and a kiss on the cheek. Over his shoulder, he hears Michael come out of the house. 

“Thanks for coming all the way out here,” Alex says to Noah, shifting the awkwardly heavy jar of flowers and holding out his hand. 

“Are you kidding?” Noah shakes his hand, smiling that smile of his that always gets people to forget how much they distrust lawyers. “It’s our pleasure. Isobel’s spent the whole week talking about it. This is great.” Noah looks around him, taking in the house and surrounding land. Alex genuinely likes Noah. From what he’s seen, he and Isobel balance each other out. 

With the awkward greetings out of the way, Alex leads their guests around to the back of the cabin. His favorite part of the place is back here. 

The property backs onto forest. There’s a large clearing where they spend all their time as long as the weather allows. In the shade, Michael’s hammock’s strung up between a pair of Aspens. Off to the right of the yard, Michael carved out a place to work on his truck. 

The place has begun to feel more like a home since Michael started coming around. 

“This is beautiful,” Isobel says, taking in the yard. There’s a makeshift patio made out of salvaged terra cotta tile and a picnic table he and Michael spent an afternoon working on, cobbled out of reclaimed wood. There’s nothing particularly beautiful about it, but it’s sturdy and has survived half a summer of thunderstorms. 

Alex tries to see it from her point of view, through fresh eyes. There’s a small garden with a failed attempt at lettuce, some sickly looking cucumbers and more tomatoes than they could eat in a summer. The makeshift outdoor kitchen consists of a utilitarian charcoal grill and several planks being held up by saw horses. The afternoon they spent trying to make something functional ended in a summer thunderstorm and the two of them on the living room floor, soaking wet and laughing into each other’s mouths. 

Isobel follows him to the table, admiring the yard. Alex sets Isobel’s flowers down. The benches have cushions Alex found on an afternoon in Santa Fe with Michael, several candles glowing from the center and a freestanding lantern Michael forged out of scraps. 

It’s not dinner at the Bracken house, but it in the early evening summer light, it’s quite beautiful out here. 

Dinner is whitefish for Isobel and steak for the rest of them. There’s grilled corn Alex turned into a salad with cotija and cilantro and a bowl of fresh fruit dressed with honey and lime. There’s a cooler of beer and a bottle of Isobel’s favorite wine. 

“This is really lovely,” Isobel says to Alex, taking a seat on the bench beside Noah.

Alex relaxes a little as he takes his own seat. It’s just dinner. It’s not the first time they’ve hung out together - he’s been to dinner at the Bracken house and watched Michael and Max argue goodnaturedly over beer and pizza at Max’s house. But there’s something about opening up this space he and Michael share that makes him want to run right back into that circle of comfort where he’s used to living. 

“I helped, you know,” Michael lies, slipping an arm around Alex’s waist. 

Isobel sees right through him. “I’m sure you did,” she says dryly, giving Alex a twinkling smile. Beside her, Noah laughs. 

“A quick toast,” Isobel says. She slips her arm into Noah’s and holds out her wine glass with her free hand. “To family.” 

Alex goes still, unprepared for the emotion that hits him, sitting here in this place with these people. Accepted. 

Michael ducks his head and presses a kiss to Alex’s shoulder. He raises his beer bottle. “To family,” he says, looking at Alex.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. I'm on [Tumblr](https://elliebirdthings.tumblr.com/)


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